The Source Of Male Western Tanager Head Colors
Male Western Tanagers are known for their red heads but there can be considerable variation in those reds and the cause is not fully understood.
Category: Behaviors
Red-tailed Hawk Negotiating Obstacles At Take-off
I’m often surprised and impressed by the dexterity and athleticism of larger raptors as they take off through a maze of tree branches or other obstructions.
Bathing Vesper Sparrow – My Small (and accidental) Contribution To A Body Of Knowledge
This post is an update on an event and a process that began when I photographed this Vesper Sparrow as it bathed in a small Montana spring earlier this fall.
Grebe Chicks Hitchin’ A Ride
There’s just something about back-brooding birds that appeals to the human eye and heart.
Grebes Eating Feathers (including two graphic images)
An Osprey Pirouette
This female Osprey seemed stiff and less confident of her agility immediately after being relieved from many hours of nesting duty.
A Digestive Surprise For A Young Swainson’s Hawk
I believe this juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was taken by surprise by what it found in its mouth.
Northern Harriers Playing With Toys
In a recent post I documented “play” in Northern Harriers. Two days ago I photographed two of them playing – with each other and with “toys”.
An Acrobatic Red-tailed Hawk
Raptors sometimes pull some pretty crazy maneuvers during take-off (the last 9 images in this post are sequential with no images in the sequence left out).
Montana Merlin In The Fog
Last month I posted a few images of this Merlin in the fog. For subtle reasons this may be my favorite from the entire session with the bird.
Pied-billed Grebe – An Entertaining Diving Technique
Pied-billed Grebes use several different diving techniques but the one called “gradual sinking” is certainly the most entertaining to watch.
Northern Harrier “Playing”
Play has been well documented in some bird species and I believe I photographed that behavior in a Northern Harrier this week. This bird was too far away for quality images but I think the behavior is well documented in the photographs. I first spotted this hawk on an ugly metal fence post but as soon as I stopped my pickup to watch it through my lens the wary bird took off. Almost immediately it performed a spectacular and classic harrier mid-air maneuver by changing directions and pouncing on something in the grasses. I presumed it to be a vole. For about two minutes the bird continually struggled, wrestled and pounced on something I couldn’t see. The activity was quite frenetic and I took many photos of it. As I watched through my lens I wondered if the harrier was trying to avoid being bitten by a vole or even a larger rodent. Eventually the harrier took off with its “prey”, which turned out to be dried cow poop. Cow pies are common in this area because refuge managers run cattle there in the summer in an attempt to control invasive phragmites (personally I’m not a fan of cattle on public lands but that’s another story…). The harrier carried the cow pie only a few feet… before dropping it. Whether that was done deliberately or not I don’t know but I suspect that it was because in the image just before this one (just as the pie…
Have You Seen Birds Nesting This Late In The Season? I Just Did…
I have never seen any species of bird nesting as late as the second week in October in northern Utah. Until yesterday.
White-crowned Sparrow Attempting To Feed In The Wind
I photographed this adult White-crowned Sparrow near a campground at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last month as it tried to feed on berries in a stiff breeze.
Why Did The Red-tailed Hawk Cross The Road?
Sometimes when I’m photographing birds I find myself wondering “Why did that bird do that?”. Arriving at a reliable answer can be an exercise in frustration but often I can’t help myself, even when the behavior in question is a trivial one.
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Red-tailed Hawk Negotiating Obstacles At Take-off
I’m often surprised and impressed by the dexterity and athleticism of larger raptors as they take off through a maze of tree branches or other obstructions.
Bathing Vesper Sparrow – My Small (and accidental) Contribution To A Body Of Knowledge
This post is an update on an event and a process that began when I photographed this Vesper Sparrow as it bathed in a small Montana spring earlier this fall.
Grebe Chicks Hitchin’ A Ride
There’s just something about back-brooding birds that appeals to the human eye and heart.
Grebes Eating Feathers (including two graphic images)
An Osprey Pirouette
This female Osprey seemed stiff and less confident of her agility immediately after being relieved from many hours of nesting duty.
A Digestive Surprise For A Young Swainson’s Hawk
I believe this juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was taken by surprise by what it found in its mouth.
Northern Harriers Playing With Toys
In a recent post I documented “play” in Northern Harriers. Two days ago I photographed two of them playing – with each other and with “toys”.
An Acrobatic Red-tailed Hawk
Raptors sometimes pull some pretty crazy maneuvers during take-off (the last 9 images in this post are sequential with no images in the sequence left out).
Montana Merlin In The Fog
Last month I posted a few images of this Merlin in the fog. For subtle reasons this may be my favorite from the entire session with the bird.
Pied-billed Grebe – An Entertaining Diving Technique
Pied-billed Grebes use several different diving techniques but the one called “gradual sinking” is certainly the most entertaining to watch.
Northern Harrier “Playing”
Play has been well documented in some bird species and I believe I photographed that behavior in a Northern Harrier this week. This bird was too far away for quality images but I think the behavior is well documented in the photographs. I first spotted this hawk on an ugly metal fence post but as soon as I stopped my pickup to watch it through my lens the wary bird took off. Almost immediately it performed a spectacular and classic harrier mid-air maneuver by changing directions and pouncing on something in the grasses. I presumed it to be a vole. For about two minutes the bird continually struggled, wrestled and pounced on something I couldn’t see. The activity was quite frenetic and I took many photos of it. As I watched through my lens I wondered if the harrier was trying to avoid being bitten by a vole or even a larger rodent. Eventually the harrier took off with its “prey”, which turned out to be dried cow poop. Cow pies are common in this area because refuge managers run cattle there in the summer in an attempt to control invasive phragmites (personally I’m not a fan of cattle on public lands but that’s another story…). The harrier carried the cow pie only a few feet… before dropping it. Whether that was done deliberately or not I don’t know but I suspect that it was because in the image just before this one (just as the pie…
Have You Seen Birds Nesting This Late In The Season? I Just Did…
I have never seen any species of bird nesting as late as the second week in October in northern Utah. Until yesterday.
White-crowned Sparrow Attempting To Feed In The Wind
I photographed this adult White-crowned Sparrow near a campground at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last month as it tried to feed on berries in a stiff breeze.
Why Did The Red-tailed Hawk Cross The Road?
Sometimes when I’m photographing birds I find myself wondering “Why did that bird do that?”. Arriving at a reliable answer can be an exercise in frustration but often I can’t help myself, even when the behavior in question is a trivial one.